Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel has claimed the Overwatch League inflated its viewership numbers by viewbotting, and that it contributed to his decision to leave professional play.

xQc was reacting to a 2019 video in which Mark Cuban said the Overwatch League had reached a concurrent viewership peak of 300,000. However, Lengyel pushed back on those figures and alleged the numbers were artificially boosted – implying the real viewership was closer to 14,000.

“These numbers were so botted,” xQc said. “These numbers were so botted, it’s comical. Brother, for multiple years, they tried to hide the numbers.”

xQc claims OWL numbers were inflated

Expanding on his claims, xQc said he had heard different figures from a source during the league’s early testing phase on Major League Gaming.

“They ran a test on MLG,” he said. “For the preseason, they said, ‘we’re going to run Overwatch League on MLG TV.’ And I had an insider whistleblower that was talking to me. I’m not going to say who. And he told me the numbers of how many people were actually watching. And I went, ‘Yo!?’”

xQc did not provide evidence for the claim and did not name the source he referenced.

The former Overwatch pro also said the situation influenced how he viewed his own future in the league, particularly when balancing streaming with professional play.

“I had already signed the contracts to play in the Overwatch League. When I heard that, I was like… I’m already starting to organize my exit,” he said. “How am I going to market myself as a 10k Andy to a 14k Andy stream?”

He added that restrictions in OWL contracts limited his ability to stream during official matches, which factored into his decision-making.

“Why would I take days off to practice? Go to the office, practice. Do scrims. Do matches. I can’t stream, I can’t make videos, I can’t vlog. I wasn’t even allowed to stream when the games were live,” he said. “So why would I lose everything with nothing to gain? It’s just about the exchange of value.”